The history of Herodotus - Volume I Part 16
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Volume I Part 16

54 [ {upo phego pep.h.u.kuie}, i.e. the oak-tree of the legend was a real growing tree, though the dove was symbolical.]

55 [ {panegurias}.]

56 [ {prosagogas}, with the idea of bringing offerings or introducing persons.]

57 [ {epoiethesan}, "were first celebrated."]

58 [ So B.R.]

59 [ {sumphoiteousi}.]

5901 [ i.e. 700,000.]

60 [ See ch. 40.]

61 [ {tesi thusiesi, en tini nukti}: some MSS. give {en te nukti}: hence several Editors read {tes thusies en te nukti}, "on the night of the sacrifice."]

62 [ Or, "for what end this night is held solemn by lighting of lamps"

(B.R.), making {phos kai timen} one idea.]

63 [ {alexomenous}: this, which is adopted by most Editors, is the reading of some less good MSS.; the rest have {alexomenoi}, "strike them and defend themselves."]

6301 [ {eousa e Aiguptos k.t.l.}: the MSS. have {eousa de Aiguptos}: Stein reads {eousa gar Aiguptos}.]

64 [ {theia pregmata katalambanei tous aielourous}, which may mean only, "a marvellous thing happens to the cats."]

65 [ {es 'Ermeo polin}.]

66 [ {dikhelon, oplai boos}, "he is cloven-footed, and his foot is that of an ox." The words {oplai boos} are marked as spurious by Stein.]

67 [ i.e. above the marshes, cp. ch. 92.]

68 [ {pante}, which by some is translated "taken all together," "at most." Perhaps there is some corruption of text, and the writer meant to say that it measured two cubits by one cubit.]

6801 [ The reading of the Medicean MS. is {en esti}, not {enesti} as. .h.i.therto reported.]

69 [ Or, "calling the song Linos."]

70 [ {ton Linon okothen elabon}: the MSS. have {to ounoma} after {elabon}, but this is omitted by almost all Editors except Stein, who justifies it by a reference to ch. 50, and understands it to mean "the person of Linos." No doubt the song and the person are here spoken off indiscriminately, but this explanation would require the reading {tou Linou}, as indeed Stein partly admits by suggesting the alteration.]

71 [ The words "and Bacchic (which are really Egyptian)," are omitted by several of the best MSS.]

72 [ {epezosmenai}.]

73 [ In connexion with death apparently, cp. ch. 132, 170. Osiris is meant.]

74 [ {sindonos bussines}.]

75 [ {to kommi}.]

76 [ {nros}.]

77 [ Or, "a pleasant sweet taste."]

78 [ {apala}, "soft."]

79 [ {kat oligous ton kegkhron}.]

80 [ {apo ton sillikuprion tou karpou}.]

81 [ {zuga}, to tie the sides and serve as a partial deck.]

82 [ {esti de oud' outos}: a few MSS. have {ouk} instead of {oud'}, and most Editors follow them. The meaning however seems to be that even here the course in time of flood is different, and much more in the lower parts.]

83 [ {os apergmenos ree}: the MSS. mostly have {os apergmenos reei}, in place of which I have adopted the correction of Stein. Most other Editors read {os apergmenos peei} (following a few inferior MSS.), "the bend of the Nile which flows thus confined."]

84 [ Not therefore in the Delta, to which in ch. 15 was a.s.signed a later origin than this.]

85 [ {kat' ouden einai lamprotetos}: Stein reads {kai} for {kat'}, thus making the whole chapter parenthetical, with {ou gar elegon} answered by {parameipsamenos on}, a conjecture which is ingenious but not quite convincing.]

86 [ {stratien pollen labon}: most of the MSS. have {ton} after {pollen}, which perhaps indicates that some words are lost.]

87 [ {kai prosotata}: many MSS. have {kai ou prosotata}, which is defended by some Editors in the sense of a comparative, "and not further."]

88 [ {Suroi} in the better MSS.; see note in i.6.]

89 [ {Surioi}.]

90 [ {kata tauta}: the better MSS. have {kai kata tauta}, which might be taken with what follows, punctuating after {ergazontai} (as in the Medicean MS.): "they and the Egyptians alone of all nations work flax; and so likewise they resemble one another in their whole manner of living."]

91 [ {polon}, i.e. the concave sun-dial, in shape like the vault of heaven.]

92 [ The gnomon would be an upright staff or an obelisk for observation of the length of the shadow.]

93 [ i.e. Red Clod.]

94 [ {Turion stratopedon}, i.e. "the Tyrian quarter" of the town: cp.

ch. 154.]

95 [ {ten sen}, or {tauten}, "this land."]

96 [ {es o meteke auton}, "until at last he dismissed it"; but the construction is very irregular, and there is probably some corruption of text. Stein reads {ekon} by conjecture for {es o}.]

97 [ {delon de kata per epoiese}: a conjectural emendation of {delon de' kata gar epoiese}, which some editors retain, translating thus, "and this is clear; for according to the manner in which Homer described the wanderings of Alexander, etc., it is clear how, etc."]

98 [ Il. vi. 289. The sixth book is not ordinarily included in the {Diomedeos aristeia}.]

99 [ Od. iv. 227. These references to the Odyssey are by some thought to be interpolations, because they refer only to the visit of Menelaos to Egypt after the fall of Troy; but Herodotus is arguing that Homer, while rejecting the legend of Helen's stay in Egypt during the war, yet has traces of it left in this later visit to Egypt of Menelaos and Helen, as well as in the visit of Paris and Helen to Sidon.]